Some years ago, the Glenrothes Gazette ran a weekly column called “Christian Viewpoint”, and I submitted articles for it on an occasional basis.

Eleven years ago this month, the UK was in turmoil. A young girl had been kidnapped, abused, and murdered by a previously convicted pervert who had been let out of prison and gone back to his evil ways. The News of the World started a campaign calling for the exposure of “paedophiles” (a horrifying word, for there is no “love” in their evil actions). People were horrified when “pediatricians” and those who had been falsely accused were forced by rioters to flee their homes.

This week, riots of a different kind have scarred Britain. I’ll be posting on some of the ways Britain has sowed the wind, and is now reaping the whirlwind. For today, I’ll just post the article that ran in the Glenrothes Gazette in August 2000. It isn’t directly applicable to this week’s looting rampages, but the underlying principle is entirely applicable: rejecting God’s standards eventually brings dire consequences.

Reaping the Whirlwind

Children are kidnapped, abused, and murdered. Convicted and alleged paedophiles commit suicide. Riots in Manchester, Portsmouth, and Plymouth force innocent families, as well as paedophiles, to flee.

God told the children of Israel, “They have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind.” This is what is happening in society today.

The “News of the World” prints pictures of girls intended to arouse sexual desires, and then is outraged when perverts satisfy their desires on girls a little bit younger. They are reaping the whirlwind.

The media pushes sexual gratification as something to be pursued without limits, and then is dismayed when some go beyond what even they consider acceptable. They reap the whirlwind.

Parents and other “responsible” adults buy the tabloids and support the soft pornography that whips up the desires of its readers. They reap the whirlwind of fear that someone will prey on their children.

The government puts perverts into counseling and turns them loose, then is distressed when parents and others no longer trust them for protection and riot in the streets. They, too, reap the whirlwind.

The loving relationship between a husband and wife is one of the most wonderful gifts God has given us. It is not to be paraded in the streets, spread over the tabloids, or displayed on the screen. This cheapens, perverts, and ultimately destroys what God intended.

God’s plan is being ignored. Who needs marriage — you can have a partner (or just pick up someone at the pub for a night)! Why confine yourself — you can be “free”! The whirlwind of AIDS, venereal disease, broken homes, abused children, teenage pregnancy, and perversion sweeps through society. Can anyone honestly deny the connection between sexual “freedom” and the consequences of a sex-crazed society?

God established a standard because He loved us, not because He was cruel. As loving parents limit their children’s behaviour for their own protection, so God’s boundaries protect us. We reject them at our peril, for the whirlwind is growing.

“Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.”